RECORDED MUSIC

Northern Advocate, 8 March 1930, Page 2

RECORDED MUSIC

NEWS OP THE WEEK. } I COLUMBIA. I 1 j: IRISH SONGS BY ALFRED ! O’SHEA. i (!) The Li tie Irish Girl; (2) A Little, ■ Bit of Heaven. Sung by Alfred O’Shea, , ■tenor. Columbia 01G02. The famous Irish singer was in excellent voice on the day he made this record, which Columbia have now transferred to their cheap label section. The two songs he has chosen are among the most popular of the Irish ballad type, and he sings them with a wealth of sincere feeling. Listeners will notice how exquisitely he shades his voice in the softer passages; indeed, O’Shea’s use of mezza voice is one of the subtlest on the records. His gloriously round and open tone Is a sheer delight to listen, to, and his broad sympathetic phrasing gets right down to the heart of his music. 'Those who like the best tenor singing, should make a point of hearing a few of the O’Shea records and making their choice therefrom. A NEW HUBERMAN RECORD. (1) Eomauza Andaluza (Sarasate); (2) Mazurka (Zarzycki). Violin, solos by Bronislaw Huberman. Columbia ■0‘4358. This is the first of, Huberman’s Columbia records, and the debut is brilliantly .successful. Huberman is question on of the 'greatest living fiiddlers. Warmth and humanity gleam in every note, and while he dazzles us with Ids fiery chromatic runs /and amazing double stopping, his style is perpetually singing; there are no fireworks for firework’s sake. The ■Sarasate “Romanz-a” leaves one breathless. It glows with colour, personality and vitality; there is ah alluring Spanish voluptuousness curvetting throughout the sensuous rhythm. The / Mazllrka has a Bohemian tinge, reminiscent of the wilder Liszt rhapsodies. Huberman’s clean vigorous tone records with astonishing fidelity.

MENDELSSOHN’S FINEST OVERTURE. (((I) Fingal’s Cave (Mendelssohn); (2) Spring Song; (3) Bee’s Wedding (Mendelssohn). Sir Henry Wood conducting the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Columbia 05002-3.

Many critics will place the short “Fingal',3 Cave” Overture as Mendelssohn’s, finest work, and indeed it has a .grandeur .and: depth,,of;-filing that are often 'absent from this composer’s writings. The Overture was a .result of a visit to the Hebrides, and pictures, in the "manner of a: tone poora,the lashing of the ocean around the rock-bound coast. Calm alternates with, storm; lovely limpid melody with tumultuous and dynamic thunders by the full .orcehstra., Sir Henry’s attack is sharp and incisive. He wastes no time*.on Victorian sentimentality, and the music is all the healthier, and all the more manly, for leaving out this quality which sugared so much of Mendelssohn’s' writing. The Overture occupies three sides, and the four is given to charmingly played versions of two almost inevitable Mendelssohn favourites—“The Bee’s Wedding” and “The Spring Song. ’ ’

KETELBEY’S ORIENTAL PHANTASY.

In a Chinese Temple Garden (Ketelbey). Albert W. Ketelbey’? Concert Orchestra. Columba 05005.

Halfway between Classic and Popular music stands Ketelbey, peddling wares in high favour with both classes. Quite in the Ketelbey vein is the ingeniously descriptive, “In a Chinese “Temple Garden, ’ ’ with its bells, and Buddhas in Procession, and the clamour of a Chinese crowd. No man is Ketelbey la equal in painting a picture in music, and, to carry the metaphor along a. bit, his colours are bright and vfvid. He writes music not in a vein of philosophy, but as delightful wanderer with eyes and ears on the look-out for wonderful things to admire and tell us about. He conducts his own orchestra with a sure hand.

SIR HENRY WOOD AT A POPULAR price:

(1) Gptterdaminering—Song of the Rhine Daughter (Wagner). (2) The Ride of the Valkyries (Wagner). Sir Henry Wood and the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Columbia 02952-53.

Sir Henry gets to the very heart of this unearthly and mystical music. Its intricate structure holds no terrors for •him, for he builds phrase on phrase, motive on motive, and counterpoint over counterpoint like a master builder laying his bricks with a clear view of the temple that is to grow «u, of it. Sir Henry has a subtle understanding of tone colours; his brass and his woodwind blend perfectly, and he achieves just that “fatness” in the strings that is so necessary to the richness, that Wagner calls for. As a make-weight, ho gives the fourth side to a dramatic reading of the sweeping “Ride of the Valkyries,” played at a nervous tension that rushes us through the skier, alongside the Daughters of the Gods. The Brunnhilde motive comes through with stirring eclat. A truly magnificent playing.

HIS MASTER’S VOICE. | i j PETER DAWSON. ] Peter Dawson found in Popple’s I stirring song, “The Smugglers,” a robust number to suit his powerful style. The sturdy s'pirit of the song is admirably expressed. There is also fine resonance of tone in “The Man W;ho Brings Sunshine.” Dawson has a big voice, but it is always subservient to the theme of his song, and his interpretative powers have been aptly likened to those of Johnj McCormack. His enunciation gives the listener no difficulty., (H.M.V., B 3078). OPERA IN ENGLISH. The steady contributions of operatic arias in English by the Australian tenor, Browning Mummery, will no doubt be appreciated by a large circle. In his singing of “The Dream,” from “Manon,” which has been given in Italian by Tito Schipa, he makes exquisite use of the mezza voice, and his soft phrasing is flawless. The tenor sings of a paradise of babbling brooks, flowers, and song-1 birds, and the constantly reiterated figure played by .the strings • suggests perfectly the dreamy atmosphere. By way of contrast is the powerful and dramatic “No, Punchinello, No More,” from “Pagliacci.” This passionate and despairing outburst is magnificent. (H.M.V.; B 3121). A BACH AIR. The list of recorded vocal music by Bach is very slender, and thus the air, “Though Reviling Tongues Assail Us,” from the cantata “Watch Ye, Pray Ye,” sung by the English soprano, Elsie Suddaby, is particularly welcome. This is a glorious piece of sacred music, and the singer approaches it with appropriate mood, the note of triumph being fine in- - deed. Miss Suddaby is one of England’s finest singers in this class of music, and she again reveals her beautiful voice in Gounod’s “Ave Maria,” in' which Marjorie Hayward plays the violin obligato. The whole atmosphere is one of sincerity. (H.M.V., C 1733).

KREISLER RE-RECORDS. The hauntingly beautiful “Meditation,” from Massenet’s opera “Thais,” which has been re-recorded by Kreisler. The melodic line flows, unfalteringly like a thread of gold. In the opera the meditation follows Athanael’s long vigil in Thais’ courtyard, waiting until her• last revery should be over and she should join him on -the pilgrimage into the life of spiritual peace. This is the atmosphere Kreisler creates. The companion number -is a re-recording of the picturesque “Tamboufin Chinois)” a vivid and quaint expression of Chinese life. (H.M.V ; , DB1207).

DANCE RECORDS. ■ There are several bright and tuneful dance records in the H.M.V. releases for February, and such popular orchestras as Olsen’s, Vallee’s, and Weems's are well to the fore. The following is a carefully considered selection;— “Out Where the Moonbeams ‘are Born,” fox-trot with vocal refrain; and “The Moonlight March,” fox-trot with vocal refrain, played by George 'Olsen and his music (E.A..- 61.1). “Where-are You, Dream Girl,” foxtrot with vocal refrain; and “Prctonding,” fox-trot with vocal refrain, played by Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees (E.A. 605). “Here We Are One,” fox-trot with vocal refrain, and “Piccolo, Pete,” foxtrot with vocal refrain, played oy . .Ted Weems and his Orchestra (E.A. -JO2).

BEAUTY OF THE VIOLIN. A Kreisler record is always of interest. This month the great violinist adds to his list two exquisite gems of his own composition, “Rondino” (on a theme by Beethoven) and “Fair Rosemary.” It is a case : of two simple numbers being glorified by the masterartiiicer’s touch. The decorative work in “Fair Rosemary” is entrancing. One sits back and revels in the beauty of the tone the artist commands. That quality never fails him, The “Rondino,” a study in the perfection of the legato stylo, is a re-issue, but it was well worth it, if only for the enhanced beauty the electrical recording has given it. (D.A. 1044.)